In a new study, the Afghanistan Human Rights Centre has warned about the expansion of the Taliban's jihadi schools, saying that these schools have had a negative and dangerous impact on the minds of young people.
The study, published on Monday, said that the Taliban had changed the school curriculum and removed key subjects.
The study, titled "Women's Access to Quality Education in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan," said that the number of Taliban’s jihadi schools is higher than what has been officially announced.
The Afghanistan Human Rights Centre has recently been established. Sima Samar, former head of the Human Rights Commission; Farid Hamidi, former Attorney General of Afghanistan and former commissioner of the Human Rights Commission, and Musa Mahmoudi, a former member of the commission, established the centre.
According to the study, the Taliban has established many jihadi madrassas across Afghanistan since the beginning of their rule. The Taliban's Ministry of Education has announced that more than 21,000 jihadi madrassas are active in the country, but the Afghanistan Human Rights Centre has said that the number of these madrassas is much higher, based on the evidence it has obtained.
Research shows that the Taliban has built a large jihadi school in each province with extensive facilities and dormitory capacity for 2,000 people. In addition, jihadi schools have been established in district centres. For example, in Kunduz Province, four large jihadi madrassas and a total of 800 religious schools have been established in the past three years.
According to this study, 100 religious schools have been established in Khanabad district alone. This is while during the republican period, three religious schools were active in this district.
Jihadi schools are different from regular religious schools. In addition to religious lessons, jihadi madrassas also teach the Taliban's ideology and support for the group.
‘Impact of Jihadi Schools on Young Minds’
The Afghanistan Human Rights Centre is deeply concerned about the impact of jihadi schools on the thoughts and views of young people. According to the report, the Taliban is seeking to strengthen their ideological rule by increasing the number of these madrassas and making changes to educational programmes. By promoting violence and extremist thoughts, this group tries to keep society away from access to modern sciences and concepts.
The Afghanistan Human Rights Centre has warned that this trend will lead to the radicalisation of youth and the promotion of dangerous ideologies in society.
The Afghanistan Human Rights Centre has emphasised that the Taliban has been able to have a negative and significant impact on the thoughts of young people in a short period of time. These changes in the education system and the increase in jihadi schools have been aimed at consolidating the Taliban's rule and promoting extremist ideas.
‘Changes In Curriculum’
According to a study by the Afghanistan Human Rights Centre, one of the major changes in the Taliban's curriculum in girls' primary schools is that basic themes such as "socialism," in which concepts such as human rights, women's rights, peace and democracy were taught, have been removed. Some teachers have also reported that the subjects of "civic education," "skills," "art," "patriotism," and "vocational training" have been removed from the curriculum.
The research shows that the teaching hours in schools are mostly devoted to religious themes. Themes such as "Emirate Studies", "Recommendations of the Leader of the Emirate", "Principles of Jurisprudence", and "Morphology and Syntax" have been added to the curriculum.
The Taliban's ban on girls' education in public and private schools has led to the enrollment of a large number of girls in religious schools. According to the Taliban's Ministry of Education, more than 24,000 girls were enrolled in the group's religious schools in 2023.
Also, last year, more than 300,000 religious students were studying in Taliban schools, of which more than 95,000 were girls. The Afghanistan Human Rights Centre wrote that unlike schools, there is no age requirement for girls to be admitted in madrassas. However, the issue of observing the full hijab is one of the basic conditions in the jihadi schools of this group.
For the past three years, the Taliban has closed schools above the sixth grade and universities to girls. The international community has made any discussion about the Taliban's recognition conditional on the observance of women's rights, respect for human rights, and the reopening of schools and universities. However, the Taliban leader said in his latest speech that the world does not accept any of their words. He also emphasised on "jihad" and confronting the West.
However, "injustice to half of Afghanistan's population (women)," in the words of the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, has also caused internal discord among the Taliban. Some Taliban officials have sharply criticised the group's leader for closing schools and universities to girls. However, domestic and international criticism has had no effect on the positions of Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah.
